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I leave them my drawing and then they have a little display with all their owls. There are little parliaments of owls all around classrooms in Northern Ireland now," he proudly beams.
I used to, but now I think more about the mental health crisis. I used to focus on physical transformation – leanness, body shape. But during the pandemic I realised that it’s with mental health that people need help and motivation. Without a healthy mindset and the energy you get from exercise, life feels a lot harder. If you look at exercise from a mental health perspective, the body will follow. I reverse the process, with the illustrations and characters first and then let the children choose if they want to end the story with a written sentence, an illustration or both. While he has seen many technological changes in his craft, the essence of his job remains the same. Howard, who has lived in Belfast for the past 22 years, is delighted to see how his approach is already breaking down barriers and impacting upon those children with learning difficulties, including dyslexia. During his two-year fellowship, Howard is committed to "promoting visual literacy as an alternative, accessible gateway for students and children of all literacy levels to engage in, building enough confidence in them to read and create their own stories".I really believe in all those things, so it's everything I love and believe in a children's picture book." His illustrations for Burpee Bears were all done digitally using an iPad, over the space of just six weeks. It’s an uplifting story about a bear family who go on a wonderful day out in the woods. It’s about getting active and having fun (and getting caught in the rain)… The star has now released his first ever picture book, The Burpee Bears, and dropped in to Kirkhill Primary to do a burpee bear workout with the children, a special reading of the book and also a Q&A session.
The Workout Badges will be available on The Body Coach TV YouTube channel and on the YouTube Kids app, starting 22 September Joe's message is about having children being active and taking care of their mental health and I wanted to reflect the bears vitality, energy and liveliness using bright colours," he explains. Since being awarded an MBE by the Queen last year for his efforts during the Covid pandemic, 'The Body Coach' has been on a nationwide tour of primary schools promoting his new book. The Burpee Bears has been written in partnership withauthor Vivian French. It will beillustrated by artist Paul Howard.
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He also welcomes the trend of having more illustrations contained within books aimed at the progressing and older reader, including the lavishly illustrated versions of Harry Potter. In the past there were set rules that you read picture books to such an age, then you read chapter books and then you read the novels," he says. When I was commissioned to illustrate the book I wanted to make it feel like a baby's comfort blanket and choose to draw it in these pastel pencils to accentuate the softness of it."
As well as publishing his own young fiction and picture books, most recently 1, 2, BOO!, Howard has collaborated with some of the greats of children's literature including Allan Ahlberg, Michael Rosen, Anne Fine, Trish Cooke, Martin Waddell and John Boyne. I used to think if I tried drugs, I’d become an addict. It frightened me. I suppose I am addicted to social media… and to helping people. I’m very purpose-driven and get a buzz out of that. I’m obsessed with doing more content, more videos, going to other countries. They are one of the most important parts of literature and perhaps one of the hardest to get right. I became successful because my workouts were 20 minutes long and my recipes 15 minutes. I wanted to show people that they can lead a healthy life with minimal effort. Then I moved onto pastel pencils and finally I've started working digitally. But no matter what the medium, it always starts with finding the characters and the story."Earlier this year the Duchess of Cambridge chose to read the book on CBeebies Bedtime Stories to mark Children's Mental Health Week. As I was growing up I remember feeling short-changed when I moved onto the more difficult books with no illustrations. I had a really unhealthy diet. My mum had me at 19 and didn’t know how to cook. Junk food was all she knew. She used to go to Iceland where there were lots of buy-one-get-one-free offers. I got into cooking at university. I’m still very greedy. I love chocolate and ice-cream. I eat way more than any average person, but because I exercise five to six days a week I get away with it. There are days when it wears me down, not so much my posts as messages from people who are struggling. I try to reply. I’m constantly giving out energy. But I can put my phone away. The first few hours I’ll miss it, but as each hour passes I feel lighter: I’m not in demand, no one can reach me… it’s a nice feeling. I love being playful. Exercise doesn’t have to be serious. But it was very tiring making the series because of Covid. I had to film with each child separately because of social distancing rules.
Children can listen to him read some of his best-loved books or take part in illustration and story workshops. On Saturday June 11 over-16s can join Howard and some of his fellow illustrator friends in a 'draw-off' as they battle it out to create characters and stories from the cues provided by the audience. Going out on my motorbike (a Triumph Bobber). Or taking the kids to Richmond Park or Virginia Water Lake. My garden is a little sanctuary. I’ve got an ice machine, a metal bath I fill from the hose and then I throw in lots of ice. I’ll lie in there for four or five minutes and it’s amazing. Nothing brings you more into the moment than freezing water. Speaking to panelists Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan, Carol McGiffin and Linda Robson, the 36-year-old exercise guru said: "Essentially it's a book about all the things that I believe in around exercise and movement and improving your mental health, and also coming together as a family - cooking together and exercising and going on an adventure. French is the author of more than 300 books and has beenawarded an MBE for her services to literature, literacy, illustration and the arts. She has also received the Scottish Book Trust’s outstanding achievement award and isthe co-founder of the critically acclaimed Picture Hooks scheme to help emerging art graduates find their feet in the world of book illustration. This is my fourth decade of illustrating children's books. It all started in the 1990s with Martin Waddell books using watercolour, which of course you couldn't rub out," he explains.
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In these uncertain times that we are living, books have the power to help support and empower children and assist them in building empathy and understanding of this crazy world. His books have also been well-received, as he often looks at workable weight-loss diet plans that are easy to manage. Ranging from vegetarian diet plans to food for children, he’s created a multitude of different plans, always sustainable and adapting to the needs of the individual. Over time this has seen him become a permanent fixture on the bookshelves of many, allowing him to become hugely popular worldwide. With a lot more to come still, he definitely isn’t finishing any time soon either, as his career carries on growing from strength-to-strength. Teachers say how enthused children are with that approach. Visual literacy is inclusive and embraces people of all abilities. Those with learning difficulties may have trouble with words - but it's not to say they can't tell a narrative. The curriculum doesn't cater for these kids and it's an eye opener for a lot of children and teachers."
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